Patriots

The Patriots, also called Militia or Minutemen were a rebel militia founded in 1770 to resist the Intolerable Acts of Great Britain. They served as the main force behind the American Revolutionary War until 1776, when the United States gained independence.

History
The Thirteen Colonies of Great Britain sacrificed so much for the British during the French and Indian War of 1754-1763, a wound from which they could not heal. Britain was also drained of its economy, troops, and resources, and they needed a source of more money. Since they had a rich trade route with the colonists, they taxed their servants in the Colonies.

In 1763 the Proclamation Line, which was supposed to be the boundary of the Thirteen Colonies, was declared. Many settlers in Kentucky and Ohio were forced out of their log cabins which they had toiled to create, and the British thus gained allegiance from the Iroquois Confederacy, Cherokee Nations, and other Frontier tribes.

Origins
In 1765, matters turned worse when Britain passed the Stamp Act, putting extra taxes on stamps in the city of Boston, which would feel the hand of Britain's fury almost exclusively. Protesters ransacked Governor Thomas Hutchinson's mansion and rioted in the streets, and more taxes were to follow such as the Townshend Acts. The riots culminated in the Boston Massacre of March 1770, in which the British soldiers opened fire on a crowd of armed protesters who were assaulting Private Hugh Montgomery. Montgomery and another British soldier were branded for manslaughter, although Montgomery's head was injured by rioters and many redcoats were physically abused by the rebels.

The Patriots were rallied when the British started taxing tea in the 1773 Tea Act, and they not only blew up three loads of tea in the restricted harbor area, but also dumped 100 chests of tea into the bay in the "Boston Tea Party". The Patriots were then put under strict rule, and the Town Watch were alerted whenever civilians noticed illegal weapons.

American Revolution
The militia were formally equipped and armed in April 1775 to finally resist the British occupation. Led by Isaac Davis, they trained, and many of these men were apprentices and usual people. Davis trained them to use muskets, and on 19 April 1775, 76 of them met with 700 British regulars in the Battle of Lexington. The Patriots lost 7 dead with no kills, and they fell back towards Concord. At the Battle of Old North Bridge, the Patriots fired at the British as they headed into their formal firing lines, and Pitcairn ordered a retreat. The retreat of the British army allowed the Patriots to continue their war, and they besieged Boston.

When Ethan Allen captured Fort Ticonderoga later in the year, the cannon from the fort were hauled to Boston so that the militia could use it in bombarding the British in the city. In late 1775 Benedict Arnold led an army to Canada in hopes of winning over the support of Canadian opposition, but no help came and he was defeated at the Battle of Quebec on 31 December 1775. Although this venture failed, the war was not yet over, and Boston fell in early 1776 in a bloodless siege. Thomas Gage evacuated his men to Nova Scotia, and Patriots gained a capital. On July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson and the Continental Congress drafted the Declaration of Independence, creating the United States.